BRIDGEPORT -- From a Facebook page asking for Mayor Bill Finch's resignation to a call for protesters to show up at Tuesday's City Council meeting, elected officials are at the center of a controversy over the city's snow cleanup efforts.

Residents throughout the region have complained about their towns' responses. But the protests of many Bridgeport residents, who didn't see a city plow for three or more days, continued to grow even as the streets were made passable.

Now, some of the "usual suspects" known to speak out against elected officials' actions are urging fellow Bridgeporters to turn those online complaints into action.

"This whole thing has been an embarrassment," said the man who started a Facebook page called "Tell Mayor Finch to resign."

"Yes, we had a bad storm. But so did everyone one else. They managed to clean up. Why couldn't we? I can't blame all my problems on Finch, but he doesn't help."

The man, who asked not to be identified, said he didn't see a city plow on Ellsworth Street until Tuesday.

John Gomes, a former Finch appointee who challenged him in a mayoral campaign in 2011, is also using social media and word of mouth to convince people to vent their frustrations directly at the City Council during its public hearing session at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The council still has several five-minute slots open for those who wish to sign up to speak.

"People are interested, but they don't have that vehicle to push them" to take action, Gomes said.

He had to hire a private plower to clear the way to his North End restaurant, the Red Rooster Deli. He and his neighbors on Alpine Street also paid for a plow driver to clear their street.

Gomes, who was fired from his city job in 2008, has protested in the past, standing outside City Hall on numerous occasions last year when the mayor and council spoke about raising taxes. The man who founded the anti-Finch Facebook campaign joined Gomes during one of those protests. The number of people who "liked" his page went from 13 on Thursday evening to more than 60 by Friday.

John Slater, chairman of the city's Republican Town Committee, and other RTC members are also planning to be at the council meeting Tuesday. The RTC sent out an email blast on Thursday criticizing Finch for pulling plow drivers off city streets the night the blizzard started.

"Rather than setting aside money to build another park, create green jobs or fund another `community program,' the mayor and council should find a place in the budget to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in our storm response," Slater said.

He was also outraged at the city's decision to tow cars parked on city streets late in the week.

"The mayor shares this frustration and will be conducting a review of our storm response as we always do to determine how the city can improve," she said. "In this instance, it's not surprising that Mr. Gomes, who was dismissed by the city and ran an unsuccessful campaign against Mayor Finch in 2011, is playing politics with this issue. We will continue working hard to clean up after what was an historic amount of snowfall, and we welcome everyone's feedback on how we can improve our efforts going forward. The storm response involved the very hard work of hundreds of public employees, private citizens and residents. We thank everyone for their hard work."

Many residents have also written in to the Connecticut Post defending city officials. One woman, Jessica Martinez, said people should place some of the blame on those who violated the city's parking ban.

"The city placed a `travel ban,' and yet residents of Bridgeport were still driving around in a blizzard getting stuck everywhere which makes it impossible for plows or first responders to navigate the roads," Martinez wrote in online comments. " I'm not sure if we all expect the mayor to just melt away 4 feet of snow but yes it will take more then 7 days to clear up the amount of snow we got, get over it."

And Councilman Jim Holloway, who represents the East End, said he has only heard complaints from a couple of constituents.

"I think they (city workers) did very well with what they had," said Holloway, who works as a permit supervisor for the city. "We had some new guys who work for the city who've never seen this much snow before. And it took two days for the National Guard to get down here."

Still, Council President Thomas McCarthy said he has had informal conversations with other council members about increasing fines set in city ordinances for people who violate parking and traveling bans during emergencies. Higher fines might be a deterrent to drivers and make things easier for plow crews in the future, he said.